LEGISLATION ANTERIOR TO "CHARTA FORESTA." 213 



and the same shall be done with all wears for fish (riparii), 

 which in our time have been by us forbidden. 



"48. All the bad customs relating to forests, and 

 warrens, and foresters, and warreners, and sheriffs, and 

 their officers, and wears and their keepers, shall be im- 

 mediately inquired into, in every county, by twelve sworn 

 knights of the same county, who must be chosen by just 

 men of the same county ; and within forty clays after 

 this inquisition being made, they shall be abolished, so that 

 they shall never be revived, provided that we are first 

 informed of it, or our justiciary, if we shall not be in 

 England. 



" 52. But we will have the same respect and the same 

 manner of exhibiting justice, of disforesting forests, and of 

 continuing forests, which Henry our father, or Richard our 

 brother afforested/' (namely, that they shall be done as soon 

 as possible). 



The nobles as well as the people had felt the grievance 

 of forest laws, and they winced under the encroachments 

 made upon their lands by William the Conqueror and 

 his successors. They saw themselves for a time to be 

 powerless to prevent the kings from seizing any part of 

 their estates they chose, and making it a Royal forest ; and 

 it is alleged that, had the peasants and the people the 

 commons alone been the sufferers, the nobles the peers 

 of kings might not have done anything to arrest the evil ; 

 but when they found themselves being despoiled of their 

 property they moved in the matter, and, after much nego- 

 tiation, they extorted from Henry III. the Carta de foresta, 

 or Charta fiorestce, issued 10th February, 1225. 



There is some confusion in the historical notices which 

 have appeared, of these different charters. Matthew Paris 

 relates that King John must have granted a Charta 

 Forestce, besides the Magna Charta signed by him which 

 view he seeks to support by the allegation that the small 

 size of the parchment, on which was written the Magna 

 Charta, is inconsistent, if not incompatible with the sup- 



